


Play in Three Acts

by sabinelagrande



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Bets, Blatant Mutant Ability Misuse, Doubles, F/M, Genderplay, M/M, Sexy Duplication, Threesome - F/F/M, Threesome - F/M/M, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-06
Updated: 2012-01-07
Packaged: 2017-10-29 01:54:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabinelagrande/pseuds/sabinelagrande
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Take two and call me in the morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Charles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cesare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cesare/gifts).



"We need your help," Charles, the very attractive man Erik happens to be fucking, says, putting down his pint glass.

"We've got a little bit of a problem," Raven, the equally lovely metamorph that Erik is also fucking, agrees.

Erik raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You see," Charles says, leaning in, conspiratorially, "Raven and I have a little contest going."

"And we need a judge," Raven says.

"And you're the best candidate by far," Charles assures him.

Erik looks at them suspiciously. "What kind of contest is this?"

"We intend to find out," Charles says, "who exactly is the best Charles."

"We were going to see who could be the best Raven-" she says.

"-but that wouldn't really be a fair fight," Charles says. He waves a finger at Raven. "I've got some new ideas, though. We're going to pick that back up."

"Right," Raven says. "So, are you in?"

Erik just stares at them. "What, exactly, would I be signing up for? I mean, you turn into Charles, and I just look at the two of you?"

Charles and Raven share a smile. "Not exactly," Charles says. "That wouldn't be hard enough, now would it? We already know she can do that. I mean, when we were children, Raven would walk around as me all the time, and Mother never noticed." He looks at Raven. "I maintain, however, that that was an expression of her parenting style, not your abilities."

"There's got to be a challenge to it," Raven says, "or it's not really a contest."

"Yes, there's got to be some element of," Charles says, waving a hand, "tension. We have to put her through her paces."

"How do you propose we do that?" Erik asks, puzzled. "Do you want to spar or something?"

Raven grins, trailing her foot up the inside of Erik's calf. "No," Charles says, sliding his hand onto Erik's thigh.

"Oh," Erik says, looking at the two of them.

"So," Raven says, "are you in?"

Erik smirks. "I suppose I am."

\--

"Some ground rules, before we begin," Charles says, as Erik is arranging himself in the middle of the bed.

"Any use of telepathy is an immediate forfeit," Raven says.

"Quite right," Charles agrees. "And intentionally changing forms in the middle of things, while hilarious, is also a forfeit."

"Agreed," Raven says.

"What about talking?" Erik asks.

"That won't be a problem," Raven says, smirking, in a pitch-perfect imitation of Charles's voice. She lets her form change, and suddenly another Charles is standing there, absolutely identical except for the color of his tie.

"That's a dead giveaway," Erik points out.

"Yes, but when I come out," Raven says, wrapping herself around Charles, which is sort of brain-breaking to watch, "I won't be wearing it."

"Shall we begin?" Charles asks her.

"Of course," she says, and they walk away, hiding themselves behind the screen in the corner of the room. A few moments later, two Charleses walk out, both naked, and Erik really can't tell them apart now.

"After you," one of them says to the other, holding out a hand in invitation, before going to sit in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Thank you kindly," the other one says. This Charles stretches, catlike, a typically Charles gesture; when he's done, he looks at Erik, giving him an evil smile. "Are you ready?"

Erik looks him up and down. "As I'll ever be."

"Good," he says, and then he gets up on the bed, crawling across it, looking up at Erik with hooded eyes. He crawls right up into Erik's lap, kissing him soundly, his hands on Erik's shoulders. It feels just like Charles, his scent, the texture of his hair, the feel of his lips against Erik's, but Erik is well aware that this is the easy stuff.

He's more than ready for the hard stuff.

He looks at Erik like he can read his mind, but that doesn't tell him anything; Charles _always_ looks like that, whether he's actually doing it or not. He grins, kissing down the line of Erik's neck, biting him just where he likes to be bitten, right on that spot just below his ear. He moves on down Erik's chest, over his stomach, and then he's face to face with Erik's cock. He doesn't take it into his mouth, not at first, pressing his nose into the curls at its base and breathing him in, letting it slide over his cheek.

Erik groans; he sort of hates this part, because he is, at his core, a very impatient man. It doesn't help, because Charles is well aware of that fact, and he tends to exploit it on a regular basis. He doesn't torture Erik too terribly much, though; after a moment, he pulls back, wrapping his hand around Erik's cock and taking just the head into his mouth. Erik has been teased enough; he laces his hand through Charles's hair, pushing him down, making him take it. Charles looks up at him, but he lets Erik do it, just like every time.

He's pretty much decided that this must be the real Charles, because nobody has a mouth quite like him. He's pulling out all the stops, bobbing his head up and down while he works his hand, trying to get as much as possible of Erik's cock into his mouth. He's stroking himself while he does it, rubbing himself against the sheets for more friction; the way he moans _does_ something to Erik, physically and mentally, the sensation of it coupled with the idea that he's doing this to Charles, that Charles is going this crazy just from having Erik's cock in his mouth.

Erik is very, very close; he grabs Charles's head tighter, pushing him down harder, but that's when Charles resists, pulling away from him. "Not yet," he says tightly, his hand moving faster on his cock.

"So you get to and I don't?" Erik pants.

"He has to," the other Charles says. "What's harder than controlling your powers while you're doing _that_?" He smiles. "And you don't get to because we're not done with you yet."

The Charles on the bed isn't listening to either of them, he's making desperate noises, pumping up into his fist. Erik puts a hand over his, thumbing at the head of his cock, and he goes off, groaning, shooting over both of their hands.

Charles slumps onto the bed, grinning at Erik. "Of course, you know it's me."

"You're very convincing, I'll give you that," Erik says, running a hand over his hair.

"Am I going to get a turn?" Charles asks from the chair, amused.

Charles waves at him. "In a minute." He leans over, giving Erik another kiss before he climbs off the bed and switches places with the other one.

"Now, where were we?" the Charles in front of him says, pushing Erik back into the bed. Erik can already tell this is going to be different- still Charles, but another one, the kind that's been sitting across the room, left out of the action for too long. He kisses Erik hard, taking his hands and pinning them above his head.

There's a bottle of lubricant on the table next to the bed, and Charles picks it up, pouring it over his fingers; he reaches between his legs, groaning as he slicks himself up, and there's that impatience thing again. Erik presses his fingers in alongside Charles's, making sure he's nice and ready, because whoever he is, Erik isn't going to show him any mercy.

Charles makes a desperate noise as Erik pushes up into him, all the way inside of him. Erik was wrong; _this_ has to be the real one, because if it isn't, then Raven is far more powerful than Erik imagined. This is _exactly_ what Charles feels like, the heat coming off of him, the way it feels when he starts to ride him, his head thrown back, his hand jerking his cock.

Erik slaps Charles's thigh, needing more from him. "Harder," he says, through clenched teeth, and it's all Charles can do to nod, moving faster. He knocks Charles's hand away from his dick, grabbing it and working it rougher, harder, and Charles cries out, pushing up into it.

Even as far gone as he is, Erik still has an idea. "Beg me for it," he says, knowing full well that the real Charles won't.

"Erik," Charles whines, but that's all he says, not rising to it.

"Go on, then," Erik says, stroking him faster, and Charles comes, his eyes rolling back; Erik thrusts up into him a few more good times and follows him over, moaning.

Charles finally climbs off him, kneeling next to him on the bed; the other one comes over, sitting down across from him. "So?" he says.

Erik looks at the two of them. "Hmm," he says, considering his options, though he already knows the answer. "You both made a very good showing, but the real one's got to be number two."

The first Charles throws up his hands in defeat. "I know when I've been bested," he says.

"What can I say," the second one says. "I am very good," he says, in Raven's voice.

Erik's eyes widen. " _No_. How did you- You can't have-"

Charles grins at her. "Well, it might have been ill-advised on my part, but the two of us have been practicing." Erik raises an eyebrow at them; he's never really considered the two of them together, but it's a very attractive proposition.

"Rest up," Raven says, her skin changing back over to blue, "because the next time's going to be harder."

"You intend to check again?" Erik asks.

"Not exactly," Charles says.

"We still have to decide who the best Raven is," Raven says.

"How will that even work?" Erik says, frowning.

Charles looks to the side, holding out a hand; another Raven appears, taking it, letting him pull her in. "It takes a little more doing," she says, "but it's hardly impossible."

Erik looks at the three of them. "When do we start?"


	2. Raven

At some point in all this, Erik is aware, he became the player and not the judge, but as Charles and Raven ready for round two, he's finding it hard to care about that. He's ready this time; he's really going to figure this one out.

Or, at least, have a hell of a good time trying.

Raven walks behind the screen, and Charles sits down in the chair, laying his fingers on his temple; two Ravens walk out, dressed identically- that's not hard, considering they're both wearing nothing.

"Ground rules?" Erik says.

"Of course, Charles will be using his powers the entire time," one of them says.

"But he won't give any hints, not intentionally," the other adds.

"Does Raven-" Erik stops, waving his hand at the two of them. "Do you get to use your powers?"

They look at each other, and both of them flicker to blue. "If we feel like it," one of them says, shrugging.

"The only one who's not allowed is you," Charles tells him.

Erik looks at them, confused. "What difference would that make?"

"You might be able to tell," one of the Ravens says. "One of us doesn't have any trace metals in her body."

"I never thought about that before," Erik admits.

"We don't have any fillings, so it won't be _that_ obvious," one of them assures him.

"Shall we?" the other one says.

"Let's," she replies, pulling her in and kissing her.

Oh, they are not playing fair at all.

The sight in front of him is- well, there aren't appropriate words for how stunning it is. The illusion is, of course, flawless, but Erik's appreciation for the level of skill displayed is really secondary to his appreciation of two gorgeous, identical women making out in front of him.

Naked.

Two gorgeous, identical, naked women.

They act like they've sort of forgotten he's there; one of them is sliding her hand down the other one's body, in between her legs, and she gasps at the feeling of soft fingers probing her, dipping inside to where she's already wet, and-

Erik clears his throat.

They look at him. "Do you mind?" one of them says.

He raises his eyebrow. "Yes."

She rolls her eyes, but she walks over to the bed, climbing up onto it. Erik looks past her for a moment, looking at Charles; he's giving absolutely nothing away, sitting with his elbows on his knees and his fingers on his temple, concentrating intently.

She grabs his face, turning it back so he has to look at her. "Hey."

"What?" he says innocently.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," she says. She throws a leg over his hips, getting on top of him; she takes his cock into her hand, running it along herself, where she's wet and ready. "Unless you don't want this."

"What man?" Erik says. "What curtain?"

"Good answer," she says, pushing down around him. Erik is finding it a little hard to get into the spirit of the competition right at the moment, because it feels so fucking good that he's not really sure he cares who it's coming from; whoever it is, they're very, very skilled at it.

He almost doesn't notice when the other Raven slips onto the bed beside him, lying on her stomach. "Hello," she says, in that playful way she sometimes has; she leans over, kissing him, cupping his face in her hand.

"And what do _you_ want?" he says, tracing her spine with his fingertips.

Her eyes are full of mischief. "I'll show you," she says, pushing herself up; wasting no time at all, she straddles his head, facing so she can get her hands on the other Raven.

"Hold on, hold on," Erik says, reaching up and spreading her with his fingers so he can get a good look at her; he's already fighting an uphill battle, here, but at least this is an opportunity to see if she's a copy. But, no, if she's a copy, she's indistinguishable from the real thing. She's still soft and wet, the blue of her skin darkening to purple in just the right places. He slides his fingers inside, and that's right too, hot and slick, drawing out the right little groan when he does it.

"Hurry up," she says, and that's just like her too, greedy and fast.

"Come here," he tells her, pulling her a little closer so he can get his mouth onto her. She tastes just right, too, but it's getting hard to concentrate on the finer details of cunnilingus when the woman he's got his dick in decides that she needs him harder, deeper, faster. He moans against Raven's cunt, working his hips up so he can get more of the other one; that just makes her- one of them, it's getting _really_ confusing, when he's got Ravens all over him- grind down against his face. He presses his tongue up against her, licking her, sucking at her, sliding his tongue inside, doing pretty much anything that makes her make the best sounds, which he figures is sort of the secret to it.

They're really doing their very best to fuck him up, making him _work_ for it. He's working his hips and his mouth and thank god all of it's distracting him from how badly he needs to come, or else this would have been over long ago. One of them is crying out, and for the life of him he can't tell which one, not until there's a rush of wetness on his face; suddenly he's looking at the ceiling, then at Raven's face again. She's kissing him, over and over, licking her own taste out of his mouth. The other one is yelling, going wild, and the instant she comes Erik loses it completely.

When he can muster up a brain cell or two, he looks blearily at the two of them; one of them is sitting right up next to him, against the headboard, smiling fondly, while the other is laid out further down, grinning.

"So," the one next to him says. "What's your pick?"

Erik really hasn't got the slightest clue; he's going to have to use psychology to get himself out of this one. He's very tempted to say that the one he's been fucking is the real one, but Erik got screwed- in more ways than one, as it happens- by that last time. Still, it holds up; Raven's power is really nothing like Charles's at all. For Charles to simulate Raven's body out of whole cloth is a very different proposition than Raven changing her body to simulate Charles's- there's actually a body there to work with. Surely the easier illusion would be to only have to simulate the outside of her body.

Unless, of course, that's what they want him to think. And that line of reasoning doesn't take into account Charles's insane competitive streak; surely he'd just _have_ to one-up Raven.

"The one who-" he says, looking for words. "This one," he says, grabbing the nearer one by the wrist.

He's startled when his hand closes around nothing.

"You," Charles says from his chair, grinning, "are really very bad at this."

"Goddammit," Erik says, sighing; when he puts his hand to his face, there's nothing on it, no trace of what he'd been- not been- doing. "I had that one."

"Never change your answer," Charles counsels. "It only leads to trouble."

Erik puts his arm over his eyes.

"Since I won," Charles says, unzipping his trousers, "I at least deserve for someone to come over here and help me with this."

Erik makes a vain attempt to move, but Raven lays a hand on his arm, grinning. "Oh, no, don't get up."

She saunters over, and Charles puts his arms out; he gets a lap full of Raven for his troubles. "Mmm," he says, his face against her neck. "My lovely sister."

He knows he's going to get hit, and he flinches away when she does it. "It's so fucking _creepy_ when you say that."

He kisses her in apology, little kisses leading from her neck downwards. "You know I only say it to get a rise out of you," he says. "And since you never fail to get a rise out of me-"

"God, Charles, shut up," she says, but the words fall into a gasp as he takes her nipple between his lips.

«You know that won't stop me,» he thinks, loud enough that Erik can hear him. He cuts his eyes over, looking at Erik's face. "Get up and turn around, darling," Charles says, kissing her skin. "Poor Erik can't see."

She shifts around, straddling him, and he guides himself up into her; she lets out a satisfied groan, starting to ride him. He slides his hands over her stomach, one up toward her chest, over the sensitive lower curve of her breast and up to toy with her nipple, the other one down to rub at her clit. He holds her close, thrusting up into her, her whole body moving against his.

He's pressing kisses all over her neck, her spine, and her head falls back onto his shoulder as she comes, moaning softly. He bites at her throat, moving faster, clutching at her, and she's saying his name, over and over again. Erik can't stop watching, amazed by how fucking hot it is, how effortless it is between them.

When Charles says they've been practicing, he _really_ means it.

Charles finally comes, thrusting up hard, groaning low in his throat. Raven turns her face towards his, slipping her hand into his hair, and they kiss languidly, satisfied.

"Get up and get over here," Erik growls, because he is past ready to go again; this has become sort of a chain reaction, but Erik doesn't care if it lasts all night.

Charles shakes his head. "You get over _here_."

"Majority rules," Raven says.

Erik sighs in frustration.

But he goes.


	3. Erik

This time, he gets a Charles and two Eriks; he doesn't think he can raise his eyebrow any higher. "I don't think I'm _that_ narcissistic," he says, as Charles goes to sit in his chair.

The Eriks smirk at each other, and it's worrying how well they've got that look down. Both of them flicker blue, and he ends up with a Raven and a Charles standing in front of him.

"We just wanted to see the look on your face," the Charles in the corner says.

"So, this is the final round," Raven says. "It took us a while to decide what to do."

"First we tried to decide what was the most fair," Charles says.

"Then we tried to decide what was the hardest," she says.

"Then we threw the whole thing out and decided to do whatever we wanted," other Charles says, grinning.

"Just like always," Erik says, rolling his eyes. "So, I'm to decide who's who?"

"Simple," Raven says.

"And I suppose there aren't any rules," he says.

"Of course not," Charles says, smiling. "We wouldn't pay attention to them anyway."

He crooks a finger at them. "Well, get over here, then."

It's not quite as frantic as it's been the other times; they slip in on either side of him, and Charles takes Erik's face in his hands, kissing him deeply, slowly. Raven's hands slide over his chest, just feeling, enjoying, and when she reaches down to his cock, she strokes him slowly, like she's got all the time in the world to do it, like coming is totally secondary to _enjoying_. Charles lets his face go, and Erik turns to kiss Raven, hard but slow, matching the way she's working his cock, the way things are going.

When he finally breaks the kiss, Raven looks over him at Charles, and Charles grins. They lean over Erik, their kisses messy, dirty; Erik thought it was hot to see them together, but seeing them together directly on top of him is a whole new level. Raven's stopped stroking him, and Erik doesn't even care right now, too focused on looking at them.

They're kind of a confusing tangle of limbs for a minute, a process that happens sort of on Erik but mostly without his help, but they end up stretched out next to Erik, facing the opposite direction. Charles is on top of her, pinning her hands above her head, kissing her again and again, teasing her. Erik looks at the corner, but the Charles who's sitting over there looks exactly the same as last time they did this; he's completely focused, barely blinking, frowning in concentration. He flicks his eyes up briefly when he sees Erik looking at him, but then he's back to staring.

Looking at Charles and Raven is so much more interesting; Charles is biting at her neck now, sliding his fingers in and out of her. He moves his fingers down, and her eyes widen. "Why, Charles Xavier," she says, pretending to be highly offended. "I never."

"If by never," he says, "you mean every day and twice on Sundays."

"You're dirty," she tells him.

"If you didn't want dirty, you'd have gotten rid of me a long time ago," he replies, kissing her. "If you wouldn't mind?" he says to Erik, indicating the lubricant on the nightstand.

Erik passes it over, looking at the two of them in amusement. "Exactly where do I fit into all this?"

"I thought you could fit into me while I fit into her," Charles says. "If it's not too much trouble."

Erik grins. "It's no trouble at all, believe me."

Charles grins back at him, before turning his attention to Raven, working his slick fingers inside of her, getting her ready, before tossing the bottle to Erik. "Just lie back," he tells Raven, "and think of England."

"Charles," she says, "I'm an American."

"What does it matter?" Charles says, pushing her thighs open. "England's a perfectly nice place to think of."

She's probably got a snappy retort for that, but Charles pushes inside of her just then, and she moans, her hand fisted in the sheets. "You have no idea," she pants, "how hard it is not to make a joke about Greece right now."

Charles laughs, leaning down to kiss her. "There's my girl."

Erik shakes his head. The two of them are patently fucking ridiculous, and god help him, he can't get enough.

He spreads the lubricant over his fingers; Charles isn't moving, right at the moment, just kissing Raven, getting her accustomed to having him inside her. Erik strokes a hand down Charles's back, pressing his wet fingers into him, toying with him before pushing them inside.

"Mmm, like that," Charles says, moving inside Raven, moving against Erik's fingers.

"You are so greedy," Erik says affectionately.

"No complaints thus far," he replies. "Give me another one."

Erik rolls his eyes, pushing three and then four into him; by the time Charles has had enough of Erik's fingers, Raven is already making little wrecked sounds underneath him, writhing like she's going to come before Erik even gets started.

Actually, now that he's thought about that, it seems like a really good idea. He kneels up, putting his hands on Charles's shoulders. "I want to see her come."

Charles gives him a look. "You're sort of missing the point of this you-me-her idea."

" _You're_ missing the point," he says, letting his voice drop into that growl that does things to Charles. "I want you to fuck her until she comes. I want to watch. Then I want you to keep fucking her while I fuck you."

"Do I get a vote?" Raven asks.

The two of them look down at her. "Do you want one?" Charles asks.

"I mean, I was going to vote for Erik's plan," she says. "I thought I could be the tiebreaker, if there was a problem."

"Unanimous, then," Charles says, tilting his head to kiss Erik.

He grins at Raven, grabbing her by the thighs and dragging her closer, tighter against him. Her hand has fallen away, and he takes it, putting it right back over her mound. As he starts to move, she touches herself, her fingers moving quickly over her flesh.

Erik is probably crowding Charles more than a little bit, but that seems really unimportant compared to being able to see them, Charles's cock moving in and out of her ass, her fingers moving in and out her cunt. Even with the interruption, it's barely any time before she's making those noises again, pressing back against Charles, needing more. She's biting her bottom lip like she's trying to keep it in, squirming like she wants to get more and get away at the same time.

"That's it," Charles says, and even in profile Erik can see that his smile is wicked. "Come on, darling."

She shudders when she comes, her hand pressed tight against her body, the other clutching at the sheets. "Oh god," she says, slumping against the bed.

After all that, as hot as it was, Erik can't help but look at her curiously. "What?" she asks, breathlessly.

Erik isn't sure how to or if he should articulate this question; Charles puts his fingers to his temple, sidestepping that whole process. "Ahh," he says. "If you're you and I'm me, why wasn't it like this when he fucked me-you?"

"You're worried about this now?" she pants. "Different," she makes a twirling motion with her finger, "equipment. Also," she says, grinning, in Charles's voice, "I am _very_ good."

"Or, more logical answer," Charles offers, "I'm her and she's me, and this is what I think it would be like."

Erik stares at the two of them.

"Right," Charles says brightly, "now that we've cleverly confused the hell out of him, let's move on, shall we?" He grabs Erik's arm, squeezing it far more roughly than Erik expected. "Because if you do not shut up and fuck me right this instant, I am going to throw you out, and then I am going to call the police and report a naked pervert in my bushes."

"I never actually said anything," Erik points out, but he pushes Charles forward, shoving his thighs open.

The motion pushes him forward onto Raven, and he catches himself on his arms, inches from her face. "Hello there," he says, grinning, and he bends down to kiss her; he ends up groaning against her mouth as Erik shoves into him, hard. That pushes Charles into her, and she makes a desperate, broken noise.

"Jesus Christ," she mutters.

"I know," Charles says, kissing the side of her face.

It's incredible, after that. They're moving together, they're working against each other; Erik is the one who comes closest to having any semblance of control in this situation, but he's rapidly losing it. He's driving into Charles, and his hand is on Raven's thigh, and they're sort of an amalgam underneath him. They're talking to each other, or at least they're making noises that sound like words; Charles's hand is working fast between them, and he catches Erik's, pulling it down. "Borrowing this," he says, guiding it to her breast, because that's Charles, taking what he needs when he needs it.

Raven is saying something like no, and Charles is saying something like yes, and Erik rubs his thumb over her nipple and Charles moves his hand faster and Raven arches off the bed so hard that it actually knocks Erik back a little.

"Erik," Charles is saying now, desperately, his voice almost a whine. "Erik, god, Erik, I'm so- I'm so _close_ -"

Erik pulls him up, lacing his hand into Charles's hair and using it to tilt his head back, leaving his neck all stretched out for him. He looks down at Raven over Charles's shoulder, and she looks back up at him with glassy, satisfied eyes; he kisses Charles's neck, not taking his eyes off hers, and she grins. "Come on, Charles," Erik says, pushing into him harder, fucking into him just right, biting where he's just kissed. "Come on, give it up for me."

Charles makes the best sound when he comes, absolutely lost, wrecked; Erik doesn't try to hold back anymore, letting Charles drag him over the edge. He's sure the sounds he's making are completely ridiculous, but if he were able to care about that, well.

He wouldn't, on general principle.

He only just manages not to collapse onto Charles; he's collapsed onto Charles plenty of times, but Charles has collapsed onto Raven, and while Raven is a lot stronger than she looks, she's probably not up to being crushed by two grown men who are, at this point, dead weight.

A long, satisfied time later, Charles finally finds it within himself to roll off of her, staring up at the ceiling. "So?" he says.

"Get rid of that thing in the corner," Erik says, waving his hand at the duplicate Charles. "I am very impressed that you kept it up this long, but after a while, you forgot to make it breathe."

Charles presses the back of his hand to his forehead. "I knew I was forgetting something." He raises his arm into the air and snaps his fingers, and the image winks out. "And?"

"This," he says, rolling towards them, running a hand over Raven's stomach, "is the real Raven."

Charles tilts his head, looking at her. "Was," he says. "Was the real Raven. I'm not entirely certain we didn't kill her."

"Go to hell," Raven says, sighing contentedly.

"Nope, that's still her," Charles confirms.

"And that leaves you to be Charles," Erik says.

Charles smiles. "How did you know?"

Erik grins. "I've been practicing. Now," he says, "it's time for you to start practicing for my game."

"Oh?"

"It's called 'Erik Gets His Revenge,'" he says, smirking.

Charles rolls his eyes. "Very creative title."

"Yours doesn't even have a title," Erik points out.

Raven spots the metal snake headed for Charles's ankle. "I think it might need to be called 'Why Charles Shouldn't Have Bought a Metal Headboard.'"

"What?" Charles asks, confused, just before the snake coils around his ankle. "Oh," he says, looking down. "We are in trouble," he tells Raven.

"I think _you're_ in trouble," she says, shutting her eyes.

She doesn't see the other snake until it's too late.


End file.
